New challenges to meet

Camp Pendleton Staff Sgt. Nanette Lugo joined the U.S. Marine Corps for the ultimate challenge.

As a senior at Wilson High School in Long Beach she excelled academically, was class president and planned to go to Cal State Long Beach for a business degree.

But those plans ground to a halt the day a Marine recruiter came to her class. In awe she watched a video of men and women running, climbing and rappelling. Though she knew little about the military, she knew the Marines' reputation and knew they had the toughest boot camp around. That was a challenge she couldn't pass up.

“I thought, ‘I can do that,' said Lugo, 31. “I told the recruiter ‘I want to know what it's like.' ” She spent the rest of her summer preparing for boot camp. The requirement of running 3 miles in 30 minutes was her greatest obstacle. But after training once a week, she passed muster.

Now 12 years later, she's still hard-charging. She's received awards and commendations in each of her assigned Military Occupational Specialties. Recently, she made the Marine Security Guard – an elite unit that protects embassies and consulates worldwide and the personnel who work there. She was trained to use a Remington 870 shotgun. On duty, she carried a 9 mm handgun. She knew the ins and outs of hand-to-hand combat for dealing with intruders. She was the only woman in a post of five to seven Marines.

In June, Lugo achieved another first. She became one of a handful of female Marines assigned to the 3d Assault Amphibian Battalion with the 1st Marine Division. For more than 70 years only men served in the combat battalion. Lugo's assignment foreshadowed January's announcement by outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to lift the ban on women in combat roles.

Women can now qualify for the military's most difficult positions. These jobs in the Marines and the Army could open by May. Senior commanders will have until January 2016 to ask for exceptions.

Over the last two decades, women were already near the frontlines in combat-serving support, said Ret. Marine Col. Charles Quilter, a 30-plus year fighter pilot and military Ph.D. historian from Laguna Beach.

The turning point for women in combat were missions in Iraq and Afghanistan where cultural sensitivities between Marines and Muslim women demanded their presence in combat patrols, he said. There they demonstrated heroism on battlefields with no front lines.

Military commanders must weigh concerns that integration on the battlefield could be distracting. They will also consider whether women can physically handle heavy machinery or carry injured service members from the frontlines, Quilter said.

Some women have already served in combat-support positions such as Female Engagement Teams that served with infantry Marines in Afghanistan. In these teams, women's roles include supply clerk, mechanic and engineer from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. They were selected based on their abilities and then trained up, said Marine Master Gunnery Sgt. Mark Oliva at Camp Pendleton.

These women had pre-deployment training including cultural awareness and combat marksmanship. They were selected for traits such as responsibility, mission focus and resourcefulness, he said.

Georgia Reyna, retired master gunnery sergeant from the 1st Marine Logistics Group at Camp Pendleton in 2010, remembers the difficulties of serving in a “male-dominated institution.”

“Marines who are grunts have opinions on what women should and shouldn't do,” she said. “You had those who felt women should not be part of this environment. At one time, I was the only female in a fighter squadron. I always had to prove myself. I was told by my superior I was lucky to have checked in while he was on vacation. He said ‘there are no females in this unit.' ”

Reyna, at 5 feet, 2 inches tall and 110 pounds, went through rigorous training. She remembers a 13-week elite training course at Quantico, Va. It was tailored for male Marines. With that experience in mind, she questions if all women can handle the physical requirements.

“It was very tough and you didn't want to be perceived as weak,” she said. Reyna said she sees pros and cons about women in combat.

“When someone is wounded, can you carry a body back as quickly as a man?” she said. “When you're in a fighting hole situation, will there be conflict between males and females? Harassment; sexual activities; people get involved in that in that environment. I had a friend who was returned from a war zone due to her being caught up in sexual activity. I had another friend who was charged with being disrespectful to a senior officer when she didn't participate in sexual activities.”

Ret. Major Paul MacNeill, who served in the Gulf War in 1990, said it's imperative that combat-bound women pass the same physical training tests as men. But he thinks that wouldn't be difficult for many who are trained to the same standard.

“Has anyone addressed the issue of women as a prisoner of war,” the Mission Viejo man said. “What would that be like? We had a situation in training where a woman was captured in war games and was raped that happened with our own forces. Can you imagine the Taliban or Iraqis getting hold of a woman?”

Lt. Col Howard Hall, who commands Lugo and the 3d Amphibian Assault Battalion, said he prepared his Marines for the five women joining last summer. Fifty percent of the battalion is deployed worldwide including in Afghanistan. The battalion moves Marines from naval sea bases worldwide and provides all-weather surface assault to ground combat elements, ship-to-shore using the amphibious assault vehicle.

He said Lugo, with her military guard experience, brings leadership and expertise that 90 percent of the Marines in the battalion don't have. For Lugo, an opportunity at combat is yet another challenge.

“In Afghanistan, you have your weapon at a moment's notice and you're ready to go,” she said. “It doesn't matter if you're in a combat MOS on not. Combat MOS should be just that. If someone chooses that job billet, they should be able to qualify for it. I support it as long as they don't lower the standard.”

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